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EMC: A Tailor-Made Approach to Achieving Energy Cost Savings

When it comes to making long-term savings in energy costs, the key is being able to measure and analyse what your business is currently using, and taking informed action to make the most of every mega-joule. In large and complex industrial environments, this is no small task.

Introducing the Energy Management Centre

As an extension of our metering and monitoring service, Out Performers has developed an innovative service called the Energy Management Centre, or EMC.

Developed specifically for our industrial clients, the EMC tracks consumption together with operational parameters including production volumes and process sensors in a central platform to identify issues and opportunities to improve efficiency. Out Performers’ ‘energy in context’ approach to monitoring is ideally suited to managing energy across complex industrial sites.

The real proof of the EMC’s effectiveness lies in its implementation. More than just a complex piece of software, the EMC has been modelled on Out Performers’ specialist engineering service. By providing ongoing analysis, the EMC works as a virtual back-office to support our clients’ engineering and management teams. Let’s take a look at the savings it recently achieved for two Out Performers clients.

Energy Wastage Events Identified for National Food Manufacturer

Out Performers was engaged to improve energy efficiency and cost savings for a national food manufacturer in New South Wales.

Using the EMC, our engineers monitored a range of electricity sub-meters and SCADA production data, and were able to identify energy wastage that was occurring on the plant’s shrink tunnel packaging operation.

Opportunity identified: The shrink tunnel packaging operation was analysed across several shift changes on four production lines. This process identified that the shrink tunnels were regularly being left on for between 2 and 15 hours after the last production on the line, as this EMC chart below illustrates.

With no operational need for the shrink tunnels to be left on after the last unit of product passes through, this finding uncovered a considerable opportunity to cut energy wastage.

Solution: Shutdown procedures were modified to ensure the shrink tunnels were turned off as soon as the last case of product left the production line. This eliminated unnecessary tunnel heating without impacting the site’s operations. Out Performers engineers also installed a monitoring alert to flag any occasions when the manual procedures were not followed.

Savings achieved: The solution delivered a saving of 84,200kWh per year and $10,100 in annual energy costs.

Over-Charging Identified for Large Packaging Plant

In 2015, Out Performers implemented a full industrial EMC service for a large packaging plant in New South Wales. The scope of the project encompassed over 200 metering points including electricity, gas, water and production.

Opportunity identified: Our engineers noticed a significant increase in the peak demand charges on the client’s mid-year electricity bill. Using the EMC, they quickly identified that one of the site’s HV transformers had been taken offline by the network provider, causing the entire load of the site to be fed by the site’s second supply. As a result, the client was double charged that month for their maximum demand from the transformer that was shut down – once on the normal supply, once on the second supply.

Solution: The EMC collected high-resolution data of the event that was used to show the client how the problem had occurred (see below). Working with the client, we were able to determine what had transpired on-site at the time, confirming a maintenance shutdown by the network provider. Out Performers then advised the client on how to obtain the credit they were entitled to.

Savings achieved: The solution delivered energy cost savings of more than $14,000.

See if the EMC is Right for You

To discuss the EMC in further detail and find out how it could assist your business, contact Grant Croghan, Sales Manager EMC on 0428 102 034 or email grant.croghan@outperformers.com.au